Next Gen 2010: Hollywood's Young Guns

Brunner is the very definition of globe trotter. Born in Bavaria, educated in Munich and San Diego, he worked in Seoul before landing his gig at Imagenation Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. "To build something in a country that has absolutely no infrastructure, where everything is new, that is just so fascinating," says the exec, who loves to visit Goa, India, on days off. And he needs them: As COO, he is responsible for all the production-related and creative decision of the company. Brunner was Imagenation's production exec on Doug Liman's Middle East-shot Fair Game and whose latest project, the Arab-language drama Sea Shadow, started filming last month in the UAE. "The idea was to create something here that allows filmmakers in the Gulf to actually work in the industry year-round and not have to go to Europe or the States to do it," he says.